Spirit And Joy
by dance-with-passion
Summary: Noodle is the true spirit and joy of Gorillaz. This tells the story of her life, but what did she really think? Suckish summary, I know. Rated T for later events.
1. Intro

**Hey, PGD needs a companion! Yep, this is a story following Noodle's life. I've been getting the idea in my head since I started All In Your Head a while back. Unfortunately I start school soon. FML.**

**There will be a few slight differences in this one, because after compiling every chapter of PGD into one document it was 177 pages, double spaced and no A/N's. ROTO has 296 pages if I'm not mistaken, much longer than PGD.**

**All the OCs are the same.**

**The dialogue in this intro is meant to be in Japanese.**

Prologue- Children

_**I have a mysterious past. Or I did. It was dark, it was scary, and I nearly died several times. It's like a video game, but for real. You know me as Noodle from the band Gorillaz. You know a little about my past, but you know mostly about my current being. I never truely had a real family. I never had a real childhood. So what REALLY happened before Gorillaz? And where am I now? Well...let me tell you.**_

_October 31st, 1990, Osaka, Japan._ _A set of twins are born to Daichi and Hina Fukui. Their names are Etsu and Masaru. Masaru is a boy. He has black hair and brown eyes. He is 21 inches long and weighs 6 pounds, 6 ounces. Etsu is a girl. She has black hair and emerald green eyes. She is 19 inches long and weighs 6 pounds, 9 ounces._

_"Congratulations, Mrs. Fukui," the doctor announces. "You have given birth to two healthy twins._

_"I am so proud," Hina says weakly, "Aren't you Daichi?"_

_"Yes, very."_

_"But I am very upset that we have to let them go so soon."_

_"Think about it Hina, they are doing something that only twenty-three children are doing."_

_"Is Kyuzo on his way?"_

_"Yes. He should be here any minute now."_

_ Mr. Kyuzo arrives shortly after. He is an old man, probably about 55 years old, and looks like a doctor or a professor. He shakes Daichi's hand. "Pleasure to meet you," he says. He looks at the children. "Very healthy," he says with a smile of approval planted on his face. "Thank you so much for helping me, the government."_

_"You are very welcome, Mr. Kyuzo."_

_"What did you decide to name them?"_

_"Etsu and Masaru."_

_"Very nice. I...better be going then."_

_ Hina hands the newborns over to Kyuzo with tears filling her eyes. She says "Goodbye" under her breath while Daichi comforts her._

_ The twins will never see their parents again._

**A/N: EH?**


	2. Box

**So...not much to say...I'm really tired...**

**The dialogue in this chapter is meant to be in Japanese, as are Noodle's sentences at the end.**

Chapter 1- Box

_January 1998._

As a loud whistle sounded, everyone came out of their bunks and lined up in a dead perfect single file line. My brother slipped his hand into mine. We were two of twenty-three children being specially trained as supersoldiers. Along with being taught skills needed for battle, we were also taught a special skill- my brother and I both taught musical instruments. Today we were nervous. It wasn't like General Takeuchi to call us out so early in the morning. We were all dead silent as he made a 'very important announcement'. "I called you out early because the government has ordered I destroy all of you." The children began whispering fearfully to each other. "SILENCE!" General Takeuchi yelled. We all quieted down. "You have less than twenty four hours to say your final good-byes. At this time tomorrow, you will all be de-activated and destroyed. Back to bunk!"

"Yes sir!" we all responded in perfect unison. Then we trekked back to the bunks and had conversations with the others about how we didn't want to say goodbye to each other. The bunks were split into four, two bunks with boys and two with girls. I shared mine with five other girls- Aoi, Chika, Tori, Ishi, and Amaya, otherwise known as 5, 9, 18, 4, and 7. We are all seven years old.

That night, I didn't sleep at all. I was so nervous because I was going to be destroyed. I'm sure everyone was. Suddenly I heard someone whisper my name. "Etsu! Etsu! Come here!" I got off my bunk and tip-toed to the window. "I'm getting you out of this, grab my hand!" It was Mr. Kyuzo. My brother was down below. I climbed on a bunch of boxes, and Mr. Kyuzo grabbed my hand and pulled me out. "Follow me," he said, "And keep quiet."

We ran as fast as we could behind Kyuzo. I was having difficulty running. We had uniform pajamas as well. The boys wore a top and pants which looked large on them. The girls wore a simple dress sort of thing that went to our knees. Both were made from white cotton. Suddenly I fell. Masaru came back and helped me up. We caught up to Mr. Kyuzo, and then hopped in his car, gasping for air. "We made it," he said as he fumbled to put his keys into the ignition.

When we arrived at his flat, Masaru and I sat down on the sofa and breathed. That's all we did, we breathed. Then we looked at each other, and we laughed some, because we had made it. Mr. Kyuzo came in after. "Okay, you need to listen."

"Yes Mr. Kyuzo?"

"You are NOT to leave this building, understand?"

"Yes sir!"

"I did happen to pick up a few pieces of clothing for you to wear for now. Just a few. You both have a couple shirts and a couple pairs of trousers, and one set of more comfortable pyjamas, as well as some underpants and one pair of shoes. That's all you'll need for now."

"These are pretty uncomfortable," Masaru said. "Where are they?"

Kyuzo pointed to the door next to the sofa. We both got up and searched through the drawers in the dresser. Masaru picked up a pair of blue silk shorts. "Etsu, I think these are yours," Masaru said, then he tossed them to me. I put them on underneath my nightgown, and then looked back to Masaru, only to be hit in the face by a matching blue tank top. I took my nightgown off then put the shirt on. Needless to say, it was much more comfortable than what I was wearing before. The room we were in was like a spare bedroom. There were two double beds which had been nicely prepared and looked awfully comfortable. Kyuzo knocked on the door. "Are you dressed?" he asked.

"Yes!" I said.

"Almost," Masaru said immediately after. Then he pulled a t-shirt over his head. "Okay, now I am."

Kyuzo walked in. "Okay, well, it's really late and I think you two need to rest up. If the government knows you are here, I will get you both to safety."

"Where?" I asked.

"Somewhere far."

"Like?"

"I was thinking maybe America or England, maybe Canada."

"But what about our skills?"

"I'll have to wipe your memory. It's the only way."

I sighed. "Well, better than de-activating AND destroying us. At least one day, we'll be normal kids."

"Maybe. I'll have to find a family for you to live with. And then you'll have to learn English all over again. And English is a hard language to learn, as is every language out there. Even your own."

"I'm sure it is."

"You went through a tough course back there. I'm extremely proud of the both of you."

"Thank you, Kyuzo-sensei. You are a great help, and a wonderful teacher."

"Good night you two."

Masaru and I lay awake talking about our family. "Maybe we'll see mom and dad again!" Masaru said excitedly. "Maybe we will. Kyuzo knows where they are, maybe we have a little brother or sister now!"

"Maybe!"

The next morning at breakfast, I decided to ask about our parents. "Kyuzo?"

"Hm?" he said as he flipped a pancake.

"Where are our parents? How are they?"

"Etsu...Masaru..."

"What?"

"Your mother and father are dead."

"WHAT?" I spat.

"They had a baby girl about four years ago. The next year, they died in an earthquake in Kobe in 1995."

"So, we're orphans now?"

"Yes."

"Masaru! Did you hear that?" I said, with tears filling my eyes. "We don't have parents!"

"I heard," he said, also with tears in his eyes.

Two weeks passed and we had heard nothing about being sent off to some other safer place. I grew so bored I actually cried about it. It wasn't very fun having to sit around the flat all day, but at least there was a TV in there- we just had to keep it low because Kyuzo's neighbors were old and couldn't tolerate noise. He had a normal day job, but he never told us what it was. All we knew was that he worked from 9-4:30, and usually picked up some kind of treat for us on the way back. He's like a father to us and he's trying to protect us. Today he had a huge surprise when he came back from work.

"What is it?" Masaru said with a huge smile on his face.

"I think I found a home for you," he said. He had a magazine in hand and on the side was a large advertisement that read, "Global Phenomenon seek guitarist for World domination. Blah blah blah. GSOH required. No hippies."

"What does this mean?" I asked.

"You're going to be in a band!"

"YES!" Masaru and I high-fived.

"I need to de-activate you though. Remember, act innocent."

"Yes sir!"

Kyuzo had a large crate for us. He placed my guitar inside. Masaru and I shared it. We had to get in the crate in the lobby, as it didn't fit in the elevator. I got in first, but when I looked down, I saw two government officials dragging my brother's body away, and Kyuzo telling them I ran away. My brother was dead- his face was pale and he wasn't breathing. I climbed back down into the crate, and silently mourned my brother's loss, curled up in a ball with my eyes closed.

The next thing I knew I heard strange voices coming from outside. "Yeh got yerself a tigah, Muds?" one of them said. I was confused. I peeked out one of the holes in my box and saw three men- one that had green skin and mismatched eyes with greasy hair, one that was tall with pale skin, blue hair, and black eyes, and one who was chunky, black, and had cue-ball eyes. I didn't know if I was supposed to be scared, creeped out, grossed out, or excited. I grabbed my guitar and kicked open the lid with my leg up as high as it could, played a really loud guitar riff, then bowed. "Yew got us a kid! A little boy!" the blue-haired one said. _Little boy? _For some reason, I had no idea what he said! "Where am I?" I tried to say. It came out in Japanese, and for some reason, I forgot how to speak English! _I'm going crazy! _I thought.

I wanted to tell them my name, so I bowed politely and said, "Noodle." _Noodle? NOODLE? You couldn't be more creative? _my concience yelled.

"2D, yew knuckle'ead!" the green one yelled to the blue-haired one. "Tha'ssa girl, not a boy, genius!" _Thank you green one, for clearing that up for him. _

"Nani ga anata no namae desu ka?" I asked. In Japanese. Not English. They looked at me like I had a disgusting growth on me. "Anata wa no namae?" I asked.

"I fink she wants t'know our names," the blue-haired one said politely.

"Yeh fink?" the green one said rudely. "Well," he then said to me, "I'm Murdoc, th' lard's Russel, an' th' freak is 2D."

"Yorushiku ne."

"Wo'ss yer name?"

"Nani?" I didn't understand what he said.

"Your name?"

"Noodle!" I shouted.

"Noodle?" the green one said as he cocked an eyebrow.

"Noodle."

"Noodle...wot kinda name is tha'-"

"NOODLE!"

There was a brief silence as I walked over to him and smelled him. I gagged. He smelled like a horse that just rolled around in its own waste, and his breath smelled like vomit, beer, and cigarettes. "You smell bad!" I said in Japanese.

"Ey Muds," 2D started, "I fink she jus' insulted yew!"

"Shaddap Faceache."

"Madokku, anata wa heikin desu."

Suddenly, it was silent again. I rubbed my belly. "I'm hungry."

"Yew wanna snack?" 2D asked.

"Snack? What's 'snack'?" I asked in Japanese.

"Y'know, food!"

"Tabemono wa?"

"Um, like waffles? Pizza?"

"Pizza? Yo sa so ne."

"I take tha' as a yes." So pizza it is...whatever the heck that is.

I think I'm going to like it here.

**A/N: KSJAKJKAJSD. That took forever to write! And I had to pull up PGD to do the end D: oh well.**


	3. Accidents Happen

**Long time no see! Sorry! I just started high school so I'm really busy. But tonight, I don't have anything to do so I'm going to add some more things today(:**

**PS- I'm seeing Gorillaz on Thursday! I'm soooo excited!**

Chapter 2- Accidents Happen

_November 4th, 1998_

I've made my bonds with these men. Murdoc is just an older brother who likes to taunt my other older brother, 2D. Russel is like my dad. I love them all though, I don't think I could last a day without any of them. They are teaching me English. I think it is going very well.

We had our last practice before our first gig today. I like the way 2D sings. He likes the way I sing, though I don't do it a lot in the band, I usually just sing on my own when I'm in my bedroom alone. The other day, he was watching me since I had left my door open. It was so embarassing! But I suppose that happens to everyone.

We practiced for two hours, then took a break. It was then when I discovered Murdoc was a smoker. I don't like the smell of smoke. Murdoc is a bad person sometimes, so I suppose smokers are bad people. I told this to 2D, and he said, "Guess so", patted my head, and got up to get a glass of water.

That night, long after I was supposed to be asleep, I got up after hearing some laughter down the hall and decided to listen to what was going on. The men were discussing band names. There were some interesting choices, and I didn't like any of them, probably because I did not understand them. What's a 'Pawn Shop' anyways?

_November 5th._

I never remembered feeling nervous, except the first time I practiced with the band. I was afraid I'd mess up and we wouldn't make it big. But the song we're playing is only ninety seven seconds long, so it can't be that bad, can it?

Murdoc and Russel were having an argument that we still didn't have a band name. "Well, Noodle didn' even get t'suggest anyfin'!"

"Muds, she's eight and she can't speak a word of English! Man, sometimes I think 2D is smarter than you."

"Oh shut up."

"What we need is a band name."

"No shit, Sherlock."

"And it needs to be something unique, something vicious..." _Unique? __Vicious? THAT'S IT! _With one breath completely filling my lungs I let out the first thing that came to my head-

"GORILLAAAAAAAAZ!" _Well, that's not what I expected._

"Tha'ss sucha-" Murdoc said, but his words were cut off by 2D staring at him and Russel giving him 'that look'.

"...A brilliant name Noods an' I fink i' jus' migh' get us signed." He patted my helmet, and I fake-smiled. 2D was smiling as well-obviously, he had no idea what was going on. That's what I liked about him- sometimes he was just so oblivious, but I knew that deep down inside, he had a nice working brain to match his sweet heart. All three of them were like my brothers- always there for me, but knew when I needed personal space.

The guy on the other side of the stage (I don't know what they call it) told us it was time to go on. I grabbed my guitar and tried to summon 2D, who was in a daze. Murdoc yelled at him, and he snapped out of it. I walked onto the stage and looked out. There was a small crowd in the building which was foggy with cigarette smoke and smelled of alchohol. The people were mostly men and women who looked either old or not very hygenic, and were probably alchoholics or drug abusers. I looked at the man who was to introduce us. "Okay, and for our next act, we have...um..." he looked at us. "What do you call yourselves?"

"Tell 'im Noods," Murdoc said. I took a big breath and said it again. "GORILLAAAAAAZ!"

"Okay," his voice returned to normal, "...Gorillaz."

Russel counted off with his drumsticks which was our cue to begin. I felt this rush of adrenaline shoot through my body, and before I knew it it was my turn to come into the song. I played as though it was the last time I was going to pick up a guitar, and soon enough the song was over. For the first time I felt overjoyed, as if I made no mistakes.

When we went backstage, we met a man named Whiffy Smiffy. He told us we were fantastic and like something he'd never heard before. And when he announced we were signed. I started jumping and dancing around from excitement while the boys cheered in the back. I hugged them all.

_November 6th._

The next day we held a party for our signing. Lots of people showed up and it was actually a pretty calm party. I met 2D's parents, and they were very polite. I told them that 2D must have gotten his politeness from him, and though they didn't understand what I said, they said "thanks" anyways.

A little while later I went up to 2D sitting at the bar. I looked at the cup in his hand that was holding what was probably an alchoholic drink. "What dat?" I asked.

"Dis?" 2D asked pointing to his drink. "I'ss Vodka."

"Vodka? Me have some, hai?"

"Eh, I dunno. I' migh' be a li'l strong. Yer only wot, six, seven?"

"Eight."

"Eigh' years old, yer real-" He looked away as he said this and I decided to try some. I picked up and took a taste. The second it touched my tongue, 2D looked back and I realised this drink tasted awful. "Oh no," he said. I spat it out and said, "Yucky." 2D took the drink back and told me where to find some Coke. I found the red cans in the mini-fridge and picked one up. Then I joined 2D and the others at the bar again.

Later that night, 2D was nailed in the head with spaghetti. I tried to hold back a laugh as he picked up a banana and launched it at Murdoc who was laughing devilishly in the background. Murdoc then threw some pretzels back at 2D, and this is when the food fight started. I picked up a cupcake and originally intended to throw it at Murdoc, who had moved within arm's length from me. But I ended up smooshing it in 2D's face as he tried to dodge a cookie that was about to hit him. Russel playfully put whipped cream and a cherry on my helmet, and then I poured wine down his shirt.

About five minutes into the fight, something went horribly wrong. When I poured 2D's drink on him, Russel came over with a big, cold éclair and smashed it into 2D's face. It went into his throat and he collapsed. I screamed. "'ELP ME!" he said, then suddenly, he turned blue and passed out. I suddenly began to panic, with tears trying very hard not to come out. I went to Russel and hugged him. "Muds, this is bad," he said as he sat down, then hoisted me on his lap. "We better take him to the hospital before something really bad happens."

The hospital was very dreary. I sat out in the waiting room with Russel and Murdoc trying not to fall asleep. It was hard, though, because it was 11:30 and I hadn't really stayed up this late in a while. Until about 2 AM it was very quiet between the three of us. Finally a doctor came out. He said that 2D was going to be okay and that his tonsils were knocked out. If it weren't for Russel 2D may never have been able to sing again.

On the way back I was just miserable, not only from lack of sleep but also because one of my best friends nearly died. As soon as we got home, I collapsed in my bed as though I hadn't slept in years.

When I woke up, Russel was in my room and he gave me the news that 2D was going to be okay. I beamed up into his milky white eyes and then cheered. He patted my partially shaven hair and then told me to get dressed so we could go visit him.

In the car I could not stop talking. Although it was mostly in Japanese, I still was overjoyed that my 'brother' was going to be okay. I was the first one out of the car at the hospital. Russel and I went up together. 2D looked very pale. I slowly approached the hospital bed, and felt his face. When I took my hand away, he opened his eyes and looked at me. "2D no dead!" I exclaimed.

"No, 'm not."

"2D okay?"

"'M fine, Noodle-luv. Ain't nuffin' to worry about." I always feel fuzzy when he calls me Noodle-luv.

"Okay!" I ran back to Russel, who went to 2D and talked to him about things I couldn't understand. Then we left.

When we got back, I decided I was going to give 2D a gift for when he came home. It was going to be a picture of me and him. I didn't think I was a very good artist, but I was going to try anyways. After all, trying never hurts!

Every day I buy 2D ice cream so that his throat feels better. I always choose something different so it's a surprise. Every day, I worked on my drawing. I also had Russel and Murdoc write "To 2D. From Noodle. Get well soon!" on it. Murdoc even went with us one day, but this was after I forced tears on him (which I never did until then) and told Russel, who threatened to punch him in the face if he didn't come with us.

Finally, the day came to pick 2D up from the hospital and I became very excited. I just could not wait to show him my drawing. I told him that I worked very hard on it. He said, "'M sure yeh did," and smiled.

When we arrived back at Kong, I dragged 2D to my room. "Ready?" I asked as I grabbed the picture from my bedside table. I showed him yhe picture. "Noods! Tha'ss very good! Way betta' den anyfing I could eva do." I could tell he was proud of me.

"Arigato!" I gave him the picture, and then he hugged me. I was so short compared to him. I giggled a bit when he lifted me. I was so high up, or at least it seemed so. But hey, when you're only 3 foot 2 and you have a 6 foot something man lifting you up, it seems like you're on top of the world.

Only weeks later, we began recording what would become Gorillaz's very first album. I had so much fun with it, I had never heard myself sing or speak before, so hearing my own voice recording was a great experience. Everything went well for a while.

But eventually, we couldn't stand each other anymore.

**A/N: So I finally finished this. I'll TRY to put up Chapter 3 tomorrow, hopefully I can! I'm very busy on Wednesdays so hopefully I can get to it. If not I will have something up by Friday.**

**Also, irrelevant to the topic- I just watched the first miner from the mine in Chile come up. I nearly lost it. It touched me when I saw him hug his wife and his son. I am so glad he came up okay.**


End file.
